US President Donald Trump has again criticised judges for halting his administration’s migrant deportation efforts, arguing the US legal system is not equipped to give every migrant due process.
“I hope we get cooperation from the courts, because, you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can’t have a trial for all of these people,” Trump said on Tuesday (April 22) at the White House.
“The system wasn’t meant” for mass trials, he added, defending his administration’s broad interpretation of immigration law.
Criticising due process for migrants
Trump was responding to recent court rulings that blocked the immediate deportation of migrants, including one by a federal judge in New York. These rulings require the government to provide due process before removal.
“We are getting some very bad people, killers, murderers, drug dealers, really bad people, the mentally ill, the mentally insane,” Trump said.
“And a judge can’t say, No, you have to have a trial that lets – the trial’s going to take two years. We’re going to have a very we’re going to have a very dangerous country if we’re not allowed to do what we’re entitled to do. And I won an election based on the fact that we get them out.”
Contempt charges over igored court order
On April 16, US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington found “probable cause” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for defying a March 15 order halting deportations of Venezuelan migrants accused of gang ties.
The judge said officials showed “willful disregard” for the court’s instructions. The ruling followed the deportation of alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
Lawyers and family members say many of the deportees were not gang members and were denied a chance to challenge their removal.
Supreme Court halts wartime law deportations
In a 7–2 emergency decision issued shortly after midnight on April 19, the US Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan detainees.
“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the order said.
Adding to the legal setbacks, a federal judge in Colorado ruled on April 22 that the administration must give Venezuelan migrants detained there at least 21 days’ notice before any deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. The ruling also mandates that migrants be informed of their right to challenge their removal.
